I was in a cab this morning, heading to a meeting with a client when something very strange (and potentially disturbing) happened. We were stuck in traffic in a four-lane highway (EDSA, to those who live here in the Philippines) when a gang of 4 teens, each possibly no older than sixteen at most ran over from the side of the road and tried to open all four doors of the cab I was in.
They tried the handles, hoping that the door was open and all of them began hammering the windows with their fists. Luckily both I and my co-worker had locked all the doors to the taxi prior to this. The intent of this marauding gang of teens was to make a quick grab, opening a door and seizing any bags, laptops or other items inside while people were stunned from surprise. One kid was also supposed to try and make a grab for the cashbox of the cab driver while people were confused.
It was a distressing incident, I recall grabbing the inside door handle and glaring at the kid who was hammering at the windows, but they ran away after they realized that the doors couldn’t be opened and that they had lost the element of surprise.
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Not exactly something that you’d expect to happen in the modern day, and the first thing that came to mind after the shock wore off was “Holy crap, someone rolled a weird result on the random encounter table.” Geeky, yes, but certainly appropriate. It got me thinking though, what other strange encounters have you guys ever had? It could be something that happened personally to you, or to someone you know, but it has to be something that really makes for a weird encounter. Care to share your stories? I’m all ears, post them in the comments below!
Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer 
Wow. That is crazy! Glad nothing happened to you or your shit!
When I was a kid (about 10 years old.. lol. God.. 20 years ago now) my parents and I were driving to the grocery store. I lived in a pretty good area in Laguna Hills, California so this all the more surprising. Suddenly the back seat window exploded in on me and we heard the echos of a gunshot (I honestly don’t believe it was deliberate.)
The window glass cut up my back and nicked my cheek.. I was rattled and crying like a lil baby..
A friend of mine from South Africa claims he actually saw someone get carjacked and then, further along on the same block, the carjacker got carjacked!
Perception Check: Failed.
Defense Check: Success!
Gain Exp.
An officemate commented about this and said this is usually the M.O. of a gang of kids in the Guadalupe area. And of the techniques is that they enrage the driver so he steps out of the vehicle, thus opening the door for them.
Not entirely a random encounter that happened to myself personally but I was there and it was pretty scary.
It was 10 years ago during my first year in college here in Cebu. I was chilling in my local net cafe/hangout place just across from my university when my friends and I heard gun shots from the streets outside. We rushed outside and were greeted to a tableau of carnage during midday busy traffic. A man in his middle years was inside his 4-wheel drive mini pajero bloodied and motionless from multiple gunshot wounds with his wife in the passenger seat also bleeding but at least whimpering with her eyes closed and apparently still breathing.
A few minutes later as my friends and I gathered around the scene as one of the first people to see what the commotion was all about, we pieced together a story from eye witnesses that two men wearing face-concealing helmets on a motorcycle casually drove up to the drivers side of the mini-pajero and stopped next to it while the traffic light was still red. As soon as the light turned green, the passenger rider and apparently the gun-man drew out an uzi from his jacket and blasted the drivers side window pointe blanc on full-auto at the hapless man and his wife then escaped into rush hour traffic. It was over in less than ten seconds.
People and the news the next day called it a “professional hit”.
The man it seems had many enemies with some who didn’t mind seeing him no longer among the living. He did not survive the attack. The man’s wife was alive but in critical condition.
I never found out what happened to the man’s wife after that. The men who did the hit were still at large and no suspects were ever caught.
Ok, there was this one time that I went home late from college and was waiting for a ride home along the street. Suddenly, a kid comes out of nowhere and asks me for some cash. He told me he needs it to help his friend (more like playmate) pay his hospital bill. Apparently, they are members of a fraternity and got into a scuffle with the rival group and the friend got stabbed. Now, normally you could just shoo off the random beggar/hobo, and in this case, I could definitely take down the kid if it ever comes down to it. But no, I gave him 10 bucks to get rid of him quickly instead.
It still unnerves me that out there, some little runt’s Intimidate / Bluff skills are better than mine.